It’s hard to write when your head is stuffed, so this will be a short post. Probably. I find that more and more people are asking me for referrals, regardless of how well or how little I know them and their businesses. In a way, that is a good sign. It means that the spirit […]
Outstanding! Are you tired of trying to be different, trying to “stand out from the crowd” and trying to be “outstanding”? I have good news for you! Stop that nonsense! Your body is comprised of between sixty to seventy trillion cells. That alone makes you unique! So, why do you try so hard to “stand […]
Say “Love” in this day and age and what comes to the hearer’s mind is spelt “S-E-X“. Come on, now, surely we have better minds than that. Still, it does seem to be so, from all I have been observing. “Sex” is a subset of what we understand as “Love”. “Love” encompasses quite a few […]
You might think you’re getting paid too little for what you do, and what you contribute. On the other hand, if you’re really honest with yourself, you might actually admit to the fact that you’re really being paid far too much! How do you think you ought to be paid? By virtue of good pedigree, […]
Never Fail? Do you fear failure? Do you know people who say things like “I never fail, I only learn”? Well, I respect where they’re coming from, and I also know that language controls communications and controls our thoughts. It is not only a tad hypocritical to say that we never fail, it actually causes […]
Why? That’s the first question I ask. If you have as a reason personal ambition, I would tell you to get real and go take a running jump, we don’t need such self-seeking people in management. Well do I recall the day when, while I was still in Active Service, I happened to meet two […]
Conflicts at the workplace are often attributed to “personality differences”. Probe a little more and you get “personality weaknesses” that accompany “personality strengths.” So, when deploying your people, it is “wise” to deploy them according to complementary “personality strengths” in order to compensate for “personality weaknesses.” How convenient. Take two aspirins and see me in […]
Are you someone who is constantly “Thinking out of the box?” Is your organization known for “Out of the Box” thinking and innovation? Why? Do simple re-conformations and incremental improvements represent “breakthroughs”? How often do genuine “breakthroughs” occur, anyway? While you’re pondering that, has anyone realized what the “Box” actually IS? You know what Russian […]
The concept of “There is no second chance in life” appears to be quite deeply rooted in society. It is manifested in various ways. One of them was that if you as a young student went to one of Singapore’s Institutes Of Technical Education (ITE) then you’re done for. “It’s the end!” as some people […]
I had a rather refreshing conversation with a younger person this morning. It was refreshing because he was giving off good vibes about his developing and sustaining good relationships with his clients as well as his suppliers. He was able to provide details about how he went about doing so, and how he visualized growth […]
To be given a mandate is to be authorized to make decisions and take action in line with the intent of the authority giving the mandate. The nature of the mandate is very important. It needs to be clear, unambiguous and guided by universal principles. It needs to empower the one to whom it is […]
Excellence is really an everyday thing, just like being a champion is an everyday thing. I used to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Sweat the small stuff.” Now, in the interests of those who don’t appreciate verbal nuance, I say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Do the small stuff”. Of course, what the phrases […]
Communities of Practice? A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger 1991). Just because there’s a community doing it doesn’t mean it’s […]
Links in this post lead to video clips. I’m not talking about the desire to become rich and famous or becoming known as a “Great Man” or as a “Great Woman.” I am talking about growing so much as a leader that others around you know it for a fact and you become top of […]
I am always amazed at how people will argue endlessly with each other over “which method works better” or even “which is the right method” instead of taking a step back, recognizing the doctrine from which the methods sprang in the first place, and then exploring fresh ways of approaching the situation in question. We […]
If we eat, work, stretch and exercise proportionately, growth takes place. If we sit on the couch, drink beer and eat potato chips whilst watching TV and playing all sorts of fun and amusing games, growth occurs as well, just that I am not sure whether you would welcome such growth. We grow muscle, become […]
We are enamoured of highly-sculpted bodies, rippling with high-definition muscle. Even couch potatoes secretly wish they could all be like that to some degree. We may not all want to have the huge muscle mass, but most, if not all of us, would certainly like a well-toned, fit and healthy look. We want to be […]
For domestic chickens, a chick hatches after a 21-day period of incubation. The chick has to peck thousands of times at the shell before it emerges. It is a slow, laborious and exhausting process, and by the time the chick pops out of the egg, wet and tired, it has probably pecked at the shell […]
Your organizational culture can be described as how you habitually run things around the place. If your culture is one of excellence, it will be reflected in the spirit in which work is executed and the manner in which people treat each other. If there is any level of toxicity, that will be reflected in […]
There was a Puma ad that said basically the same thing some time ago. What do I mean when I refer to “half measures”? Our society is prone to taking action, regardless of whether the action actually makes sense or otherwise. Regardless of what the reasons for the actions might be, besides the cop-out one […]
In yesterday’s post, I talked about being careful to empower only the right people. Enabling people is helping them in terms of ongoing character development. This is highly intensive, requires investing of your time and energy, and your attitude needs to be right. You empower people because you want to treat them well as people. […]
One of the buzzwords today is “empowerment.” We want our people to have greater autonomy, have more say in making decisions that affect the company and generally having higher stakes in the company’s future success. So, we get lots of advice about how to get out of the way, lead from the rear, let people […]
People love fireworks. Stunning, beautiful displays of harmless power. Well, harmless if fired as intended. We also like sparks. New beginnings. Picturesque showers falling from new buildings under construction. Cute little babies, kittens, puppies, tiger cubs. We love the playfulness and wonderful, latent promises of future potential. Just a spark fires the imagination. Now, wouldn’t […]
In the previous post, I talked about Unconscious Power, which is one of the effects of having achieved Unconscious Competence in some area of endeavour or growth. Here, I discuss Conscious Authority. I once heard someone describe power and authority like this, “Football players have power. The referee has authority.” I thought it was a […]
Sure. Like, how can you be prepared for things you don’t even know will happen yet? How can you be prepared for eventualities that you still have no clue about? Exactly. If you have read the original “Scouting for Boys” by Robert Baden-Powell, you would probably be able to answer that question. Since all of us […]
In a time when even the written word can be made to be untrustworthy, the spoken word which goes forth from our mouths tends to be undervalued, despised and ignored. How sad. How much more worry and anxiety trying to ensure that reams of “legalease” are drafted in order to protect our own interests. How […]
I came across an article about “Why Apple Employees Never Wanted To Have Lunch With Steve Jobs” on Business Insider Singapore this morning and wondered how many times the same thing could be said about ourselves. Ourselves being in Steve Jobs’ shoes, so to speak. Apart from the fact that I strongly advocate us having […]
A daughter ran away from home and went to live with her boyfriend. After a few days, she called home. Her mother answered and she announced, “Mom, we’re engaged!” Her jaded mother replied, “In what?” That would be our response as well if someone announces that they’re busy at work or business. Busy-ness is normal. […]
By the time we become seasoned drivers of motor vehicles, we have reached the stage of unconscious competence. A few of us might proceed to stunt driving and find ourselves back at the conscious incompetence stage all over again. Those who persist and survive go on to conscious competence. If they persist some more, they […]
Some of us might have heard of the “Third Side” and the “View from the Balcony” as well. While this postulates a good way of resolving conflicts by bringing in neutral (hopefully) and objective (pray) mediators, ensuring that the process of resolving conflicts includes as many helpful perspectives as possible is just one application of […]
Have you ever made any decisions that you regretted later? Of course, I have, too! Do you then fall into the rut of not making any decisions for fear that the decisions you make might also turn out for the worse? Happens to all of us, too, doesn’t it? Intuitively, we know that indecisiveness is […]
Not what you think. I’m talking about the Grunt, the Digger, the Mudfoot, the Worker, the Labourer, the Crane Operator, the Front Line Salesperson, the Telephone operator, the Chef, the Waiter, the Bus Driver, the Deliveryman, the Farmer, the Fishmonger, the Toilet Cleaner, the Maintenance Crew, the Security Guards. Amongst others. Know any of them? […]
Yes, they do. They start off unplanned. Nobody sets out to build empires, they just happen. The better emperors remain longer than others simply because they know about human nature. They know that humans all have a will to dominate, one way or another, and so they play with this and other characteristics to “destabilize […]
Have you ever led a group of people, all of whom depended on you to take them to wherever you all happened to be going, and all of you got hopelessly lost because you either didn’t know the way well enough or got confused and took a wrong turn, perhaps? Have you ever had to […]
That language known as English is just, well, quirky. If a judge is unjust, the result is injustice. If the judge is just, then whoever deserves it would be getting his just deserts. When you think of the words “just” or “justice”, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do the words […]
I am often asked whether leadership is an art or a science. My reply has always been “Both”. Recently, I have had a rethink and now, if anyone asks me that question, I will answer unhesitatingly “Art”. In Singapore, where the worship of the intellect is second only to the worship of mammon, such a […]
Some of you would be familiar with Kouzes & Posner’s “Leadership Challenge.” If you aren’t, do look it up. They have concluded from several years of research, still ongoing, that there are five leadership practices common to most, if not all, people. One of those practices is called “Encourage the heart.” At first glance, you […]
Choices, choices, choices. Some we love to have, others we wish we didn’t have to make. Life is full of them. This or that. Now or later. Cake or cookies. Us or them. Innovate or optimize. Profit or value. Lead or follow. (Or get out of the way). The list goes on. In the previous […]
I’ve written previously about how you ought to make your CEO redundant. Now, guess what? Yes, YOU! In fact, if you aren’t hard at work making yourself redundant if you happen to work for me, I will fire you the next chance I get! Huh? What gives? Remember what I said about two-thirds? If you […]
No one doubts the necessity of research, testing and experimentation. The reliability and validity of hypotheses, assumptions, long-standing ideas, and even some so-called “facts” need to be tried time and again to ascertain their veracity. This is particularly so when worldviews expand and frameworks grow to encompass more and more of the known universe. Yes, […]
You know, the “In” crowd. Insecure. Insincere. Intolerant. Inhospitable. Indecent. Inhuman. Incontinent. Inebriated. Inappropriate. That’s what you will become when you seek to become “special” by joining, or by trying to join, an “exclusive” or “elite” group. I am not saying that we do not pursue excellence. That ought to be a lifelong affair! I […]
All of us want the best for ourselves. We want the best for our people. We want to leave a legacy that says we did our utmost, we were great guys, we were the most inspiring influence for future generations. We want our people to remember that we gave them the most benefits, the highest-value remuneration packages, […]
What do leaders actually do? No, they don’t lead, they just ARE. Telling someone to “Go out there and exercise some leadership” is probably one of the dumbest things you can do. Anyone told that sort of thing can go out there and exercise surely some semblance of leadership, and it may pass off as […]
You know what the Peter Principle is. The presupposition, which, I suppose, is at least based on some measure of observation, that in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Since people as a whole tend to fall back on the “tried and tested”, managers would tend to promote people […]
And Personal Assistant, Gatekeeper, whatever you wish to call that person by. In an interesting activity involving marshmallows and spaghetti, it was found that groups comprising just CEOs fared rather poorly compared to groups comprising both CEOs and their PAs! Conclusion? CEOs cannot function well without their PAs? I hope not. Those who are such […]
Ah, the domain of the sacrosanct, because it is OUR private life! Nothing to do with the entities we happen to helm, because it is OUR private life! In this world, where the levels of fairness and justice can truly be said to be remarkable, NO ONE is entitled to have a private life. Only […]
Our old washing machine had died, and I was taking its body to the scrap metal dealer near our home. My son and I were pushing it along on our trolley. After we crossed the road to get to the scrap metal dealer, we had to negotiate a staircase downwards. Without thinking, we were about […]
It is often quoted that people won’t remember the words you said, but they always remember how they felt instead. Concepts like the Platinum Rule have become common knowledge, and we strive to give each other “memorable experiences.” At least, we strive to do that for our customers and clients. We all ought to continue […]
I suppose you know enough by now not to nod your head. To me, compromise is never good. This is because I sense that the word “compromise” seems to have more of the implication of “Cheating-On-My-PROMISE” than of the sense of “…to abide by an arbiter’s decision…” I would suggest that the following terms be […]
Are dependent on my personal well-being, which is dependent on my self esteem, which is dependent, in part at least, on my self-efficacy. What are my personal effects on others? What are my personal effects on you? I would like to think that my effects on others, including you, are: Have you thought about how […]
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